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From the TurfNet NewsDesk

  • John Reitman
    Golf is at a crossroads. The question is, will anyone react faster than Bryson DeChambeau to steer it down the right path?
    Watching DeChambeau take 2 minutes or more to study over numerous shots during the PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open, including an 8-foot putt on the eighth hole that he ultimately missed, was painful and frustrating. His actions showed a lack of regard for fellow Tour professionals, and listening to him rationalize slow play and even blame others, including caddies for walking too slowly between shots, was insulting.
    Pros, including Justin Thomas, Paul Lawrie, Rich Beem and Eddie Pepperell, and the media erupted in outrage prompting DeChambeau to try to change his ways and the Tour to say it will take a look at slow play but stopping short of any punitive action.
    The PGA Tour, PGA of America and the USGA, all have addressed the importance of pace of play for everyday golfers. But refusal to hold pros to the same standard is bad for the future of a game that is not exactly in the best of shape.
    Whether golf at a snail's pace occurs on Sundays on network TV or down the street at the local course, slow play can be traced back to money.
    It is maddening to watch and it is a blatant disregard for other PGA Tour players when DeChambeau stands over a putt for more than 2 minutes, or J.B. Holmes deliberates a shot for more than 4 minutes - with no action by the Tour. With the vast amounts of money to be made on the pro tour, it also is understandable why players agonize over a single shot. Still, it is unfair to others facing the same pressure and it is not entertaining, despite what DeChambeau says.
    Golfers cognizant of their USGA index or stressing over a $5 Nassau are equally obsessive about their own slow-play transgressions, while expecting their three-putt partners to pick up and get out of the way as quickly as possible.
    That's a problem.

    For more than a decade, golf has been bleeding players and golf courses at a rate never before seen. Among the obstacles to attracting new players or getting those who already play to do so more often have been difficulty, cost and time. Lessons can help solve difficulty, and there are plenty of low-cost options available. But there is nothing that can help you affect those playing ahead of or with you.
    For years, the USGA, PGA of America and PGA Tour have been at the center of industry-wide initiatives aimed at helping grow the game, and all have addressed the issue of pace of play with everyday golfers as it relates to growing the game.
    Pace of play at the highest level has been a problem for years, as well. The Tour's response to finding a real solution to the pace of play issue is as slow as DeChambeau himself.
    After the Northern Trust, the Tour has vowed to review its pace of play policy and even use its Shotlink technology to establish a pace of play report on all players, but stopped short of handing out stroke penalties for violators. 
    According to one PGA Tour official: "We are currently in the process of reviewing this aspect of pace of play and asking ourselves is there a better way to do it?"
    Translation: "Do as I say, not as I do."
    Golfers everywhere deserve better, and so does the game.

  • Devou Golf and Event Center has a history that dates nearly 100 years as well as a focus on matters that are important to golf moving into the future. 
    For nearly 100 years, the daily fee course in Covington, Kentucky has served golfers in from the northern tier of Kentucky and throughout the greater Cincinnati area.
    The golf course at Devou is nestled in an 800-acre park that sits atop a hill overlooking downtown Cincinnati and offers a host of other recreational alternatives. And the folks who manage it understand their commitment to golfers and non-golfers alike.
    Ron Freking has seen a lot of change at Devou Park since he arrived at this humble facility in the 1980s to work as a mechanic for his father, Jim, who was superintendent. Changes have included expanding from nine to 18 holes almost 25 years ago and implementing a unique fairway-renovation project that, although it took nearly a decade to complete, was done at virtually no cost. Most recently, it also has included the addition of native areas that, along with this hilly terrain, have helped transform Devou into a monarch waystation and haven for wildlife despite its urban location. A native of nearby Ludlow, Freking's story is one of hometown boy makes good.
    "We serve a lot of people, and it's a good feeling to get compliments on the golf course," Freking said. "To help the environment along the way is a feather in the cap. We get a lot of comments about wildlife and plantings. It might not register with you immediately what is going on here, but when you see a deer on No. 6, or a redtail hawk, people like that."
    Through the years, he has put up a host of bluebird boxes and over the past two decades has hung dozens of gourds that house purple martins, and all are full.
    "I need to expand and put out more gourds," Freking said. "Those birds weren't here before we put those out. We saw an occasional hawk or deer, but until 20 years ago there was no wildlife here. Now, it's everywhere. I've seen just about every kind of wildlife that is found in Kentucky."

    Of late, those efforts have included converting the course to a stopping-off point for an endangered species.
    Freking worked closely with Crystal Courtney, a certified arborist with the city, a few years ago to identify areas to convert to native plantings and where to plant a variety of milkweed species to attract monarch butterflies during their migratory commute.
    "That was very important to the park and the city," Freking said. "It was more than just PR. The park's advisory board wanted to do what would be beneficial to the habitat, the golf course and the park.
    "We planted swamp, butterfly and common milkweeds; we grew them from plugs. Some took off, some we had to plant a second time."
    Devou Park is home to more than just a golf course, half of which is nearly a century old. Miles of trails for hiking, jogging and walking wind through the park. Concertgoers have been attending events in the park's bandshell since 1939, and a new clubhouse in 2017 brought with it another new venture.
    The park has partnered with nearby Devou Cycle to start a bicycle-rental program that has been a hit with non-golfers, and probably some golfers, too. A system of mountain bike trails measure up to more than 3 miles in length with an overall elevation change of more than 300 feet.
    "The golf course and park are unique in that non-golfers can touch our golf course all around the perimeter on several holes with jogging trails and picnic areas," Freking said. "It's not like we have to go find people, they are coming to us, and it is important to show we are not out there spraying chemicals with no concern. We are taking care of our environment."
    The addition of the new clubhouse brought more stewardship opportunities for Freking.
    Prior to that project, stormwater traveled downhill off the course to the adjacent town of Park Hills. So much dirt was moved during construction of the clubhouse that the area captures a lot of runoff that today is piped to a retention pond by the first fairway.
    None of these efforts have deterred city-owned Devou from delivering conditions the defy its municipal status, and that is an accomplishment has been no small feat.
    When the course was in need of a fairway renovation, but neither the city nor the management company that held the maintenance contract at the time, were about to pay for doing that in the traditional manner. A strip-sodding program in which Freking laid out sod squares in a checkerboard pattern converted the fairways from annual bluegrass to Meyer zoysiagrass, which is suited for the area's climate that includes hot, humid summers and cold winters. This method was cheap, costing virtually nothing, but took eight years to complete. While it was friendly to the bottom line, the improved playing conditions have been met with approval by Devou Park's loyal customers.
    "The accolades have kind of snuck up on me," Freking said. "I didn't plan for that. With the things we've done in house, plus the new clubhouse, the number of people coming here to the park find out that the golf course is pretty decent too, and that has been really rewarding."
  • Among the archived Webinar recordings available on TurfNet is the July 16 session on spring dead spot control by Bruce Martin, Ph.D.
    Disease management, the latest on insect pest research, water management and career development are just a few of the topics tackled in TurfNet University Webinars during the past . .  .  12 years. Yes, 12 years.
    Since January 2008, TurfNet has been bringing golf course superintendents at least 20 educational Webinars per year. Some years, a few more. That’s more than 250 events in all.
    Superintendents always are facing untimely and unexpected challenges, and we have always recognized that it is not always possible to plan weeks in advance for even a one-hour seminar. To that end, recordings of all of our Webinars have been available on our archives page from the start. 
    Sponsored by Grigg and BASF, TurfNet University recordings include our most recent production, What’s new in spring dead spot control, by recently retired Clemson turf pathologist Bruce Martin, Ph.D., from July 16.
    Some other recent topics include
    Best management practices to control anthracnose by Bruce Clarke, Ph.D., of Rutgers University; SDHI chemistries . . .  by Ed Nangle, Ph.D., of Ohio State ATI; Balancing work and family by Lisa and Mike Goatley, Ph.D.; How to work with a green committee by Bradley Klein, Ph.D.; and The ABCs of putting green maintenance, a four-part series by Mike Morris, CGCS at Crystal Downs Country Club and Thom Nikolai, Ph.D., of Michigan State. Even if a break in an irrigation line, an impromptu meeting in the clubhouse or a sudden disease outbreak stands in the way of viewing a live webinar, the recordings are available for on-demand replay 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.
    Just like our live webinars, all recorded archives are free for everyone. TurfNet members should be logged in to their account and non-members should register for a free guest account to view them.
  • Santa Clara Golf and Tennis Club in Northern California is scheduled to close in October to make way for an entertainment district adjacent to Levi's Stadium. Midterm grades are in for 2019, and the golf industry is close to being sent home on academic probation. Even taking into account that spring was pretty wet in much of the country, rounds played in June, according to Golf Datatech’s monthly industry report card, still were flat compared to the same month in 2018, and year-to-date participation in the first half of the year was down 1 percent when measured against the first six months of last year, making golf a C performer - at best. It is a trend that is all-too familiar.
    The inventory of golf-playable-hours was down 7 percent nationwide in June. A metric devised by Jim Koppenhaver at Pellucid Corp., GPH is essentially an inventory of the number of hours in a given time that are favorable for playing golf that accounts for factors such as daylight hours, precipitation and temperature. Granted, nationwide weather data is pretty useless, but it tells us that many parts of the country took on a lot of rain in the spring. A lot of rain. And flat growth tells us that, overall, there are no more people playing golf now than a year ago. In fact, if history tells us anything, we probably will find out that there are a million or so fewer golfers among us by January, when Koppenhaver and Stuart Lindsey of Edgehill Consulting deliver their brutally frank state of the industry address at next year’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.
    Conditions have largely dried out since spring in many of those areas that experienced wetter-than-normal weather to kick off the golf season, but the rebound many owners and operators had hoped for has not been there. Of course, there are going to be pockets of success since progress is measured on a course-by-course basis, but the overall bump signalling that we finally have reached equilibrium between demand for rounds played and supply of golf facilities has not yet arrived.
    The biggest losses in June were in Kentucky (down 18 percent) and Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma (all down 14 percent). Play also was down in several golf-centric states like New York (7 percent), North Carolina (6 percent), South Carolina (4 percent), Florida (2 percent) and Pennsylvania (1 percent). 
    The biggest gains in June were in the Dakotas (up 14 percent), Virginia and West Virginia (11 percent) and New Mexico (10 percent), none of which are going to have much of an influence in overall numbers. California saw a gain of just 0.6 percent.
    The biggest year-to-date losers for the first six months of the year were again Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma (all down 10 percent). The largest gains in the first half of the year were made in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia (up 14 percent), the Dakotas (up 12 percent) and New Jersey (up 11 percent).
    The golf business underwent tremendous growth in the 60 years following World War II. What soon became an oversaturated market quickly began to self-correct by shedding underperforming courses and hastily planned layouts designed to help sell real estate.
    What many in the industry thought might be a brief trend that would last just two or three years, has turned into a movement that has carried on for a generation and has redefined the business.
    Since 2006, 2,135 golf courses have closed, while 620 have opened for a net loss of 1,515 18-hole equivalents. Included in that are 41 closures and 10 openings so far this year. One unexpected statistic that has become a welcome trend in recent years is once-closed courses reopening under new ownership. According to Koppenhaver, there are 10 such properties that have reopened this year.
    Among the courses scheduled to close this year is Santa Clara Golf and Tennis Club, a 1987 Robert Muir Graves design in Silicon Valley that will be shuttered to make room for an entertainment complex adjacent to Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. The course is set to close Oct. 15. The list also includes the Country Club at Deer Run, a daily fee in Casselberry, Florida that succumbed in June to the challenges of competing in the crowded Orlando market.
    One thing we know, is that there will be dozens more before the end of the year as the market continues to self-correct with no apparent end in sight. 
  • Carlos Arraya, CGCS, is a living example that even the worst of tragedies can provide a teaching moment. something good can come out of something bad.
    His people-first management style is the result of two things - the philosophy of his mentor and former boss John Cunningham and a car accident that killed his son, Isaiah, in 2016.
    Called pillar management, his management style focuses on employees first with the idea that the best people will produce the best product. It's a management style that gives employees ownership of the golf course and playing conditions on a daily basis thus proving how important each member is to the team and the overall operation. It also is one of the reasons Arraya was named winner of last year's TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta.
    "Losing my son gave me a new perspective," Arraya said when he won the award at the Golf Industry Show in San Diego. "Tragedies really awaken people, or they make them go down a road they can't come back from."
    CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A NOMINATION
    Nominations for Arraya's successor are now being accepted. A panel of judges will select five finalists and ultimately the winner from among the list of nominees. Click here to submit a nomination. Deadline for nominations is Dec. 31.
    Since 2000, the TurfNet Superintendent of the Year Award, presented by Syngenta, honors the accomplishments of golf course superintendents across the nation. 
    Criteria on which nominees are judged include: labor management, maximizing budget limitations, educating and advancing the careers of colleagues and assistants, negotiating with government agencies, preparing for tournaments under unusual circumstances, service to golf clientele, upgrading or renovating the course and dealing with extreme or emergency conditions.
    Previous winners include: Jorge Croda, Southern Oaks Golf Club, Burleson, TX, and Rick Tegtmeier, Des Moines Golf and Country Club, West Des Moines, IA (2017); Dick Gray, PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, FL (2016); Matt Gourlay, Colbert Hills, Manhattan, KS (2015); Fred Gehrisch, Highlands Falls Country Club, Highlands, NC (2014); Chad Mark, Kirtland Country Club, Willoughby, OH (2013), Dan Meersman, Philadelphia Cricket Club (2012), Flourtown, PA; Paul Carter, The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison, TN (2011); Thomas Bastis, The California Golf Club of San Francisco, South San Francisco, CA (2010); Anthony Williams, Stone Mountain (GA) Golf Club (2009); Sam MacKenzie, Olympia Fields (IL) Country Club (2008); John Zimmers, Oakmont (PA) Country Club (2007); Scott Ramsay, Golf Course at Yale University, New Haven, CT (2006); Mark Burchfield, Victoria Club, Riverside, CA (2005); Stuart Leventhal, Interlachen Country Club, Winter Park, FL (2004); Paul Voykin, Briarwood Country Club, Deerfield, IL (2003); Jeff Burgess, Seven Lakes Golf Course, Windsor, Ontario (2002); Kip Tyler, Salem Country Club, Peabody, MA (2001); Kent McCutcheon, Las Vegas (NV) Paiute Golf Resort (2000).
  • University entomologists are great at spreading the word about the threat of insect pests like white grubs. Their back yards, however, might provide an even stronger tell about potential infestations.
    When retired Ohio State entomologist Dave Shetlar, Ph.D., found hundreds of masked chafers in a backyard trap about a month ago, he suspected it might not necessarily be good news."Well, so much for a low grub year!" Shetlar tweeted along with the photograph.Grubs, the juvenile version of a variety of winged beetle species that number in the thousands worldwide, can be problematic in fine-cut turf where they feed on thatch, organic matter and root profile. Common grub species in turf include masked chafers, green June beetles and Japanese beetles.
    The liberal sample of adult masked chafers in Shetlar's yard and excessive rains throughout much of the eastern part of the country could be signs of pending grub damage.

    According to research, larvae overwinter in the soil, emerge as adults in early to mid-summer and lay their eggs just a few inches below the surface. Larvae hatch and feed on thatch, organic matter and roots in irrigated or otherwise wet turf before moving deeper into the soil in late autumn where they cease feeding then emerge as adults the following summer. They require moist conditions for eggs to hatch, so the adults are unlikely to lay their eggs in unirrigated turfgrass or areas that go dormant in summer.
    Found in all 50 states, grubs typically are most problematic in cool-season turf environments and in the transition zone.
    White grub damage typically is most evident in August and September. Symptoms of an infestation are gradual thinning, yellowing and weakening of the grass followed by scattered dead patches. As damage continues, the dead patches may increase in size, and apparently healthy turf areas may exhibit sudden wilting. The turf may feel spongy as you walk over the infested area. 
    Heavily damaged turf can peel away easily. If damaged areas do not pull back easily, the problem might be attributable to something else. Preventing grub damage might be as simple as learning the history of prior grub-related issues. Adult beetles are likely to return to lay eggs in areas where infestation has occurred in the past. Larger species, like the masked or European chafers, are larger and can do more damage than say the smaller Japanese beetle. Likewise, the European chafer has a longer life cycle, and can be feeding on roots earlier in the season and later into the summer. 
    According to studies, preventive applications of insecticides like neonicotinoids in late spring can help control first instar grubs in mid-summer. Many products labeled for curative control, while effective, typically have shorter residual activity.
  • SBI application deadline looming
    Applications for the 2019 Syngenta Business Institute program are due Aug. 13. Golf course superintendents can apply online to attend the popular professional development program. 
    During the three-day business-development and networking program, faculty from the nationally ranked Wake Forest University School of Business will focus on key topics, such as financial management, navigating generational and cultural differences, leadership skills, effective communication and negotiation tactics. 
    The program will be held Dec. 3-6 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Approximately 25 superintendents will be selected to attend. Since its inception, more than 250 superintendents have graduated from SBI. 
    In other news, the latest control solutions from Syngenta are now registered for use on California golf courses to help improve turf quality and playability. Appear II and Secure Action fungicides provide superintendents with enhanced control of some of the most prevalent turf diseases, while the Divanem nematicide spot treatment rate delivers stronger turf through proven, broad-spectrum nematode control.
     
    Secure Action includes a boost of acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) to help condition turf, so it performs at its best during the season and quickly recovers from biotic stress, like dollar spot, and abiotic stress, such as drought and heat. It also increases the dollar spot control interval from 14 to 21 days.
     
    Appear II controls  diseases like Pythium, while enhancing color, turf quality and stress tolerance in warm- and cool-season grasses. Additionally, it is fromulated for optimal resuspension and mixability with Daconil Action or Secure Action fungicides for use in an agronomic program to control additional diseases like anthracnose and leaf spot.
     
    The Divanem spot treatment rate of 12.2 ounces/10,000 square feet enhances control of nematodes, including Anguina, spiral, lance, root-knot and sting nematodes, while improving root quality for stronger, healthier turf that recovers more quickly from stress. The Divanem supplemental label must be in the user's possession at the time of spot treatment. Existing Divanem inventory may be used at the spot treatment rate, as long as the supplemental label is readily available.
    California OK's PBI-Gordon's Pedigree
    The California Environmental Protection Agency has approved PBI-Gordon's Pedigree Fungicide SC from PBI Gordon for control of a variety of diseases on warm- and cool-season turfgrass.
    With the active ingredient flutolanil, Pedigree is labeled for control of brown patch, fairy ring, leaf and sheath spot, large patch, red thread, pink patch, yellow patch, southern blight and gray snow mold in creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, annual bluegrass, annual and perennial ryegrass, red fescue, tall fescue, Bermudagrass, zoysiagrass and St. Augustinegrass.
     
    Turfco adds front-mount seeder attachment
    Turfco added a front-mounted drop seeder attachment for use with its TurnAer XT8 aerator that lets operators aerate and seed at the same time, over the same aeration pattern.
    The drop seeder's 2.5 cubic-foot hopper holds up to 60 pounds of seed. Seed rate dispersal is controlled by a hopper-mounted dial. The seed box spreads seed across a 30-inch swath, matching the aeration pattern.
    Powered by a 22 hp Briggs & Stratton engine, the XT8 has the ability to cover up to 2 acres of turf per hour over any terrain.
  • The Toro Company and Steel Green Manufacturing recently settled their litigation, which is the result of a suit filed in federal court by Toro against Steel Green almost a year ago.
    According to a joint news release from both companies: In March 2018, Toro announced its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of L.T. Rich Products, Inc., a Lebanon, Indiana-based manufacturer of stand-on, zero-turn sprayers and spreaders marketed under the trade name "Z-Spray." Matt Smith, Mike Floyd, Scot Jones, Brent Mills, Craig Conyer and James Kepner were employees of L.T. Rich who continued to work at the L.T. Rich facility following The Toro Company's acquisition.
     
    In early July 2018, the employees listed above left their employment at the L.T. Rich facility to form Steel Green Manufacturing LLC, which manufactures stand-on, zero-turn sprayers and spreaders that compete with The Toro Company's line of Z-Spray products.  Prior to quitting, certain of the employees listed above removed a significant volume of information from The Toro Company's computer systems, much of which Toro considered sensitive, confidential, and trade secret.
     
    On October 1, 2018, The Toro Company filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana against Steel Green and its employees which alleged, among other things, that they had misappropriated trade secret information that belonged to The Toro Company, giving Steel Green an unfair advantage in bringing its products to market. Steel Green and its employees denied The Toro Company's allegations, and specifically denied ever using The Toro Company's information. Steel Green and its employees also assert that, before the lawsuit was filed, they returned to The Toro Company the storage devices that contained the information that the employees removed.
     
    The parties have reached an agreement to settle their differences. The settlement includes the Court's entry of an agreed injunction, in which Steel Green and its employees will refrain from certain activities, including the use of the information that certain of the employees listed above removed from The Toro Company's computer systems. The injunction also prohibits the sale of machines and parts by Steel Green during certain months in 2020. The other terms of the settlement are confidential. 
    "With the lawsuit behind us, we are ramping up production," said Brent Mills, general manager for Steel Green Manufacturing. "Our focus is on taking care of our customers and providing inventory to our dealers."
  • After a lengthy career as a school principal, Todd Gordon finally made the transition to superintendent - but not the kind of superintendent you might think.
    Gordon, 57, spent 32 years as a teacher and principal in the Marion-Florence school district in central Kansas until his retirement last year. This year, he started a new career - as superintendent at Marion Country Club, a private, nine-hole facility that redefines barebones.
    Gordon, whose golf course maintenance experience includes one season helping his predecessor, is a staff of one at a course that operates on the honor system. And he has called on the expertise of experienced professionals to help him master his craft.
    Greens fees are $15 to play the nine-hole route twice and 20 bucks for a cart. And it's all on the honor system. There is no clubhouse staff, so players just sign in, grab a cart, place their money in an envelope and drop it into a box. 
    "We can't afford to have someone just sit in the clubhouse," said Gene Winkler, the club's treasurer.
    When the previous superintendent left, Marion was a little rough around the edges. Even though he had only worked at the course part time for one season, Gordon had caught the attention of other members.
    "I told the board members if they ever wanted their golf course to look like my yard to give me a call," Gordon said. 
    They remembered that.
    "He is doing a wonderful job," Winkler said. "He was a principal in the local school system for years. He was always outdoorsy and he used to have a green in his back yard that he maintained. He worked here as a laborer last summer, and when the greenkeeper left, he moved up into the job, and he is doing a great job."
    Gordon never even played golf, much less practiced as a turf manager, until he started his career in education.
    "I was just a farm kid from Iowa. I never played through high school until I took a teaching job in Kansas," he said. "The other teachers were all golfers and they were determined to turn me into a golfer. I guess they won out, because I've been one ever since. I can't believe I went all those years without playing. I guess I found the right district."
    His job today as superintendent is much different than it was a year ago as a part-time greenskeeper.
    "I used to have a flexible schedule here and could come and go as I please," Gordon said. "Now, I come early and stay late.
    "I was great help for the greenkeeper before me. Now, there's just one of us."
    That's not exactly true.
    Members at Marion have been very generous with their time, helping where and when they are needed.
    "We have a member who donates two days of mowing, that's 16 hours a week," Gordon said. "Another member has helped mow and we have a member who is on the school board who has taken off work to help. We've had a lot of member help. Without that, there's not enough hours in a day to get the work done."
    Finding enough help is not the only challenge facing Gordon at Marion. He also needs the expertise of others to help solve agronomic challenges and build daily protocols.
    For that, he has leaned heavily on area superintendents, vendor reps and others.
    That list includes Mike Hulteen, CGCS at Hesston Golf Course, Gary Andrews of Hillsoboro Golf Course, Shawn Spann of Winfield Solutions and Kansas State extension specialist Jared Hoyle.
    "We had some problems with the greens. I'd take pictures and send them to Mike," Gordon said. "He's busy himself, but he always takes the time to help me. I can't thank him enough.
    "Between him and Gary, that's 60 years of superintendent experience. When they make suggestions, I pay attention and write it down. There are a lot of folks out there willing to lend a hand."
    Gordon also made field trips to other courses to pick the brains of superintendents throughout the area.
    Last year, Gordon coached the Marion High School golf team. While his team was competing, Gordon would be at the maintenance shop talking turf with superintendents at each course.
    "He wants to learn. All the time he is reading and learning," Winkler said. "He's made so many contacts. He really wants to make the golf course good for us."
  • A law-enforcement official examines the scene of a mower rollover at a golf course in Missouri that resulted in the death of the operator. Photo by KMOV-TV Even the most unimaginable tragedy can give way to a teaching moment.
    Workers at two golf courses in two states were killed within days of each other, serving as stark reminders to review existing operator safety protocols with staff where such programs exist, and establish them where they do not; and make sure employees follow them.
    A worker at Normandie Golf Course near St. Louis was killed July 23, when the mower he was operating went down and embankment and ended up in a creek, pinning him underneath.
    Aerial imagery on St. Louis news outlets shows what appears to be a large zero-turn mower overturned in a creek bank. 
    A worker at Chicago Highlands Golf Course in Illinois was killed when a spray tank on a unit he was operating fell on him.
    Golf course personnel are tight-lipped on the details while investigations continue and the eventual threat of a lawsuit looms. 
    It was unclear whether the operator of the mower was wearing a seat belt, or if he had been ejected and trapped beneath the mower. A respiratory therapist at a local hospital playing golf at Normandie at the time of the incident told news outlets that she responded to the scene to offer assistance, but that the worker appeared to have been trapped underneath the mower for some time. 
    It is common procedure for the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration to get involved early and conduct its own investigation into whether an employer is providing a safe work environment for its employees, or if it is negligent in its efforts to do so, opening the gate for civil action.
    With the safety features built into golf course maintenance equipment and the proliferation of safety training programs at golf courses, it is difficult to imagine that such a tragedy can still occur, but it seems like this story, or one similar to it, pops up a couple of times every year.
    Each incident is a reminder to review safety procedures with your team with the goal of avoiding a similar tragedy.
    Rollover protection systems have been standard on new maintenance equipment for years, and when used in conjunction with a seatbelt are more than 90 percent effective at saving lives, according to the Department of Labor. That number drops to about 70 percent when seatbelts are not engaged with ROPS use.
    Mickey McCord, principal of McCord Golf Safety and Services, said a common cause of mower-related injuries and deaths occur when the operator does not use a seat belt, thinking they can escape from the machine if it begins to tip over.
    "The biggest issue is guys not wearing seatbelts with ROPS," McCord said. "I've had discussions with guys who are adamant about it because they are afraid of being trapped under that equipment. I tell them they're not going to get trapped if they can keep their heads for a minute and undo the seatbelt. If that mower rolls over on you without seatbelts, then you really are trapped by that equipment. I'm telling you, I hear it all the time."
    McCord says it is important to have written protocols in place that reflect proper ROPS use, but it is equally important to make sure employees are in compliance.
    "A written policy formalizes everything," he said. "But if you have a policy but an employee doesn't follow it, are you complying?"
    Some other tips for safe mower operation on sloped areas include:
    > Using a specialized mower, such as a Ventrac, on inclines of 25 percent or more.
    > Wet and undulating conditions make mowing more difficult.
    > Mow front to back, not side to side.
    > Do not start, stop or turn on slopes.
    > Make sure tires are inflated to the proper pressure.
    "The main thing, obviously, is you don't something like this to happen," McCord said. "But you want the golf course to be protected. You need a policy - a written policy, and you have to make sure that everyone knows it is important to follow it."
  • After judges recently reduced damage settlements in two of the cases lodged against Bayer in the ongoing Roundup saga, the result is a good news-bad news scenario for the maker of the world’s most popular herbicide.
    The good news? You don’t owe as much as you did a few days ago.
    The bad news? With just a few cases litigated, you still owe a @#$% ton of money, and that amount will continue to grow with more than 13,000 other cases looming and the airways (and my email inbox) cluttered with ads from law firms soliciting new clients to jump on board in what has become a case study for how to wage a propaganda war.
    Critics ask why is Roundup still on the market after it has been named in thousands of cases for being responsible for causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Those same critics advocate Bayer paying through the nose, even for suits that include $2 billion in damages.
    Roundup is on the market because it works. No other company has developed a non-selective herbicide as efficacious as glyphosate. It also has a product label that is several pages long and lays out explicit instructions for safe use, including guidelines for clothing - a fact lost on my next-door neighbor who was spotted just this week applying it to hundreds of square feet all while she worse shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops. By the way, she is an attorney.
    Hey, why read a label? In the litigious world in which we live, it is easier and more profitable to claim ignorance, point a finger and hire a lawyer.
    Attorneys, activists and the uninformed and uneducated are not going to line up any time soon to spread pity on a multi-national chemical company that employs thousands of people around the planet. Just for fun, search Twitter on the topic and read some of the comments, including a meme that lists Roundup as one of the 12 worst products ever created. Call the Dirty Dozen, the list, that also includes DDT and Agent Orange, appears to have been developed by a “clean food” advocacy group that goes by the name GMO Free USA.
    Chemicals have had safety labels for decades and tobacco products have included warning labels since 1965. There are countless other products that have been linked to cancer, are still on the market and still do not include a safety or warning label of any kind, yet products like tobacco and toxic chemicals are low-hanging fruit in the courtroom.
    In three cases, a jury has ruled against Bayer to the tune of more than $2 billion. In each case, a judge has reduced punitive damage amounts that regardless of what the public believes, would still be unmanageable, even for a company like Bayer.
    The reality is Bayer’s value has dropped significantly since it acquired Monsanto last year. According to Fortune and other published reports, the company’s stock has fallen by more than 40 percent in that time. Although the $2 billion in damages announced earlier this summer will be slashed to a yet-to-be-determined amount that likely will be in the neighborhood of $250 million, even a company like Bayer, which has announced plans to sell its Dr. Scholl’s footcare and Coppertone sunscreen divisions to boost profitability, can pay damages on 13,000 cases (and growing) awarding millions in damages. The legal system has two choices - eventually absolve Bayer (unlikely) or reach a realistic class-action solution that allows the company to remain viable.
    The world probably can get along without tobacco, but it is difficult to imagine agriculture without access to herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. Remove products like Roundup from the shelves and soon the people who complain about everything will scream about higher prices for food. Once a problem like that hits critics in their wallet you can be sure they’ll tell people to take their lymphoma and shove it.
  • Wherever one sees Joe Rimelspach, left, you are likely to see Todd Hicks nearby. Below, Joe Rimelspach helps attendees at a recent Disease Day seminar identify diseases in the field. Photos by John Reitman Starsky and Hutch, Batman and Robin, Shaggy and Scooby, Joe and Todd.
    Wherever you see one-half of any of these famous duos, chances are the other is somewhere close by. Each is an example of the philosophy of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It is an ideal voiced by Aristotle to illustrate the concept that people accomplish more as part of a team than they do individually.
    For the past decade, Joe Rimelspach and Todd Hicks have been a 1-2 punch for Ohio State's turfgrass pathology program. Thanks to their nearly two decades of hard work together, the program has become one of the leading centers for disease and fungicide research as well as extension outreach as they help golf course superintendents, sports field managers, lawn care operators and homeowners around the state and throughout the country solve some of their most challenging grass-growing issues.
    "Todd and Joe are always ready to help superintendents and speak at local association meetings," said Tim Glorioso, director of golf course operations at Toledo Country Club and a past president of the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation. "Their passion for the industry is truly evident in their actions."
    Along the road to where the program is now, they have encountered a few potholes.
    "Our professor, Mike Boehm, was becoming more involved in administration, and when you have a professor leaving that usually means the end of the program," Hicks said. "I told Joe that we need to start selling ourselves as the Todd and Joe Show."
    Boehm, formerly a professor in the department, went on to become vice provost at OSU and three years ago was named vice chancellor at the University of Nebraska.
    In that 10 years, the two are almost inseparable - professionally, at least.
    "I cover research, and Joe helps me. Joe covers extension, and I help him," Hicks said. 
    "We spend way too much time together. We know each other's families: I know his; he knows mine. I joke that in a couple more years, we are going to be common-law married."
    Hicks, 51, credits the U.S. Army for giving him the mettle needed to get where he is today.
    A native of Mendon, Ohio, Hicks joined the Army after high school and served with the 82nd Airborne based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
    "I wanted to jump out of planes and blow **** up," he said. 
    "I told the recruiter I wanted to do something that I could tell stories about as an old man."
    The Army taught skills like patience, perseverance and focus.
    "If you make a mistake in the Army, someone dies. If you make a mistake here, it's grass, it will grow back," he said. 
    Rimelspach has been part of the OSU turf pathology program since 1992. Until Hicks came aboard, turnover in the program at the staff level was high, which led to all sorts of challenges.
    "Before Todd, there were different people here all the time and I was always training new people," Rimelspach said. "We didn't have consistency; consistency of getting work done right, or consistency of taking advantage of each person's skills and education.
    "I became more embedded in research at that time, and my main focus was working in the clinic diagnosing samples and giving extension talks around the state."

    Joe Rimelspach helps a group of turf managers identify various turf types at the OTF turfgrass research center in Columbus. Even when Hicks joined the department after graduating from OSU with a degree in agronomy in 2001, it took some time for the program to get on an even footing.
    "The girl who ran our field season was leaving, and I knew what that meant. It meant the field season was just Joe and myself with no help and no background info," Hicks said.
    "Joe and I spent the summer together piecing together what we needed to do field research. It was a long and hard process. If Joe wasn't such a good guy, I would have quit and never looked back. It was awful; no student help, half our trials didn't work. From that day forward, we worked to make things more reliable, easier and faster. We were all about working smarter, not harder.
    "When I got out of the service, I realized I could do anything as long as you are with good people. In the service, whatever you were doing might have stunk and sucked, but you had your buddies with you. Joe is my buddy, and that is how we have survived for so long."
    Although the program does not have anyone with the letters "Ph.D." behind their name, it is one of the country's top pathology programs.
    "Mike Boehm gave me just enough rope to either climb the ladder or hang myself," Hicks said. "There aren't too many people with a four-year degree who have gone from student researcher to heading up plant pathology research at a place like Ohio State University. "We're called by companies to conduct research on their products and kick off fungicides. We speak at meetings with colleagues around the country. 
    "Joe has a lot of years in this industry diagnosing things and working with chemistries, and he is as good or better than any Ph.D. I've worked with."
    In those early days, it wasn't uncommon for them to be spraying test plots until 11 p.m. while they figured out what worked, what didn't and where they could save time. In the two decades since, Rimelspach and Hicks have been busy building one of the countries busiest and most highly regarded turf pathology departments into a finely tuned machine that each admits he could not have done alone.
    "We learned from those days and initiated new systems to address those issues," Rimelspach said. "Todd was very organized. He set up new systems and new ways of doing things to make everything more efficient and more accurate. It pulled us both together to where we now play off each other's strengths."
    Besides conducting extension work statewide, through the years the turf pathology team has partnered with other entities around the state, including golf courses, parks and others to establish remote test sites to monitor disease pressure and fungicide efficacy under a wide range of conditions.
    "Joe is constantly in the field, and he is our eyes and ears as to what is going on around the state," said Dave Shetlar, Ph.D., professor emeritus of entomology at Ohio State. "Todd is always tending their applied research projects, mainly at the turfgrass facility, but also at some remote locations."
    At times, that even includes the classroom, where the two teach what used to Boehm's turf fungicide class. 
    Over time, the setting for that class has often met in a location where both are more comfortable - on the research plots at the OTF research facility.
    "We talk about diseases, but we also get them outside in the field," Hicks said. "Too much is done in a book, and there is a big difference between what happens in a book and what happens in real life out in the field."
  • Tahoma 31 has been tested on golf courses in Oklahoma like the Shangri-La Resort. Turf managers in the transition zone exchange one set of issues for another when they convert from a cool- to a warm-season variety. Myriad challenges associated with growing bentgrass, ryegrass or annual bluegrass in summer give way to problems like winterkill on Bermudagrass.
    Turf breeders at Oklahoma State believe they have a solution with Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass. Released late last year, Tahoma 31 is promoted as the most cold-tolerant Bermudagrass on the market for use on sports fields and golf courses. You know that a breeder and the company that grows and markets its product believe they are onto something when the logo for a new warm-season grass features a snowflake.
    Through five years of testing across the country, Tahoma 31 stood out in NTEP trials for its drought, wear and cold tolerance as well as its visual turf quality. Field tested on a few golf courses and athletic fields, it recently was installed on the Tennessee Titans practice field and next month will be put in at Razorback Stadium at the University of Arkansas in time for the 2019 college football season. 
    How highly anticipated is Tahoma 31? This year will be the first time the University of Arkansas has played home games on grass since 2009.
    Noted for its visual turf quality and density, Tahoma 31 grows aggressively, but has a low vertical growth rate, and it can be mowed as low as 0.125.
    Breeders at Oklahoma State, including Yanqi Wu, Ph.D, professor of grass breeding and genetics, have been working on Tahoma 31 since 2006. As breeders pared down a list of potential new genotypes from more than 10,000 to about 1,600 specimens, plot No. 31 performed best under grueling winter conditions in 2010 field trials, exhibiting early spring green-up and dense growth.
    Field tested on golf courses in Oklahoma, Tahoma 31 also shows great potential for drought resistance, and exhibited the lowest ET rates in field trials at Oklahoma State for three consecutive years. According to Oklahoma State extension specialist Justin Moss, Ph.D., it requires up to 20 percent less water that some other Bermudagrasses.
    In NTEP trials, Tahoma 31 exhibited cold tolerance that exceeded other Bermudagrasses.
    Lexington, Kentucky is a transition zone location noted for some of the worst growing conditions for warm- and cool-season turf alike, and it makes the area a favorite test site for breeders, growers and seed companies. In NTEP trials at the University of Kentucky, Tahoma 31 had a lower winterkill rate than other Bermudagrasses tested.
    The hybrid Bermuda system is available only as sod. Sod Production Services of Charles City, Virginia, holds the licensing rights.
  • The beaches of Florida have become my zen place. Maybe it is the increasing stress that accompanies an unavoidable confrontation with old age. Maybe it is a list of deceased Facebook friends that numbers into double-digits. Maybe it is that my high school graduating class in Fort Thomas, Kentucky is about 10 percent smaller today than it was in May 1980. Maybe it is a combination of all of these things.
    Whatever the reason, it is easy to be more philosophical about life when reality sets in and you admit that not only are you not invincible, but you are closer to the end than the beginning. Much, much closer. Along with that is the realization that some of your time here has been wasted on things that in the big picture are not as important as you once thought, and that the people and things that are important have been given the short shrift.
    By nature, I am a private person. Discussing topics like mortality and stress and how they are intertwined is way out of character for me. I am more likely to address your mortality and your stress in print than I am my own. When numerous friends and family members, all of whom I thought would outlive me, die far too early, well, here we are. In the past, my M.O. for dealing with personal stress and tragedy has been to bottle it up, stew over it and never discuss it - with anyone. I am here to tell you that is NOT the way to deal with things.
    Stress comes at us from every angle. We are expected to do more with a dwindling pot of resources. Job-related stress runs high, quality time with family and friends run low. Relationships and health suffer. 
    Although it is no mistake that Paul MacCormack's Mindful brand is increasingly popular, superintendents do not have a corner on the market of job-related stress.
    Unlike Paul, I am far from qualified to administer life-changing advice to anyone. I have not mastered the art of zen or the pursuit of inner peace, so I certainly am not equipped to advise others on how to find true fulfillment in life. There is a chasm-sized gap between philosopher and psychologist, and I know on which side of that canyon I reside.
    The extent of my expertise as a shrink is limited to the role of father, and even then my wife and daughter would probably say I am batting about .500; great for a baseball player, not so hot for a parent. My most coveted skill at home is killing bathroom-invading spiders for women who believe Charlotte's Web belongs in the horror genre.
    Sometimes you have to be hit over the head with tragedy to wake up and prioritize life and everything in it, and losing a cousin, father-in-law and two very special friends all in a matter of months was that dose of reality.
    My best friend from high school died suddenly in May at age 56. By all accounts, he was reasonably healthy, but dropped dead of a heart attack while at work. Before he married and moved off to St. Louis, the Tim I remember possessed a million-dollar smile and a laugh that was infectious. Somewhere in his home, a device must be logged in to his Facebook account because he appears every day in a list of contacts currently online, which makes for a very surreal browsing experience every day. Throw in my own third-degree burn a year ago in a kitchen fire that required a hospital stay and countless visits to a burn unit, and I now know I am not as bulletproof as I once thought. Consider my head sufficiently hit.
    I do not pretend to have a monopoly on tragedy, or answers on how to cope with it. We all have our own experiences. They are all different and everyone has to deal with theirs in their own way. What I do know is what works for me, which can be described as, for lack of a better term, random acts of kindness.
    Life is short - yours, mine, all of us. 
    Things that once were important, are not. Things that I took for granted, and shouldn't have, have moved up on my priority list. I try to appreciate the simple things - sunrises, sunsets, the peace that a thunderstorm brings. Who knows how many of them any of us have left?
    I appreciate when people - family, friends, acquaintances and strangers - exhibit kindness. It makes life's journey a little more bearable. It is how I want people to treat my wife and my daughter. If I desire that or expect it from others, I have to practice it on others, as well. I try a little harder now to be kind to everyone, though there are some people who have not earned that goodwill, like the guy on the Florida Turnpike who expects everyone to drive 30 mph over the posted speed limit and shows his disappointment in you with a one-finger salute when you do not.
    We are social animals by nature, and smiling and being kind to others comes naturally. It is much easier than being indifferent or rude, which actually require effort.
    One of those hit-me-over-the-head moments came on a recent trip to Florida. Our friends at Bayer took a group to meet with golf course superintendent Laurie Frutchey at Lexington Country Club in Fort Myers. 
    Laurie has been at Lexington for 18 years and shared with the group what she does to burn off work-related stress. During our stop, we also visited with her general manager, Al Kinkle. We met with Al only for about 10 minutes, but what an energy-packed 10 minutes it was. It was immediately evident in just a few short moments that this man was born to lead and inspire others. And at age 75, he is covered in tattoos - both arms, both legs. He showed us all of them, and explained their meaning, most of which centered around the death of his 35-year-old daughter, Kimmie, to a fentanyl overdose in 2016.
    Since then, Al has become the chairman of charitable entity known as Barbara's Friends. Named for Barbara Haskell, who died of breast cancer at age 32, Barbara's Friends helps provide treatment options for pediatric cancer patients in Fort Myers and throughout Lee County. He also was instrumental in starting Kimmie's Angels, which is named for his daughter and is an assistance fund to help benefit Barbara's Friends families.
    As a father who has buried a child, Al has experienced way more personal tragedy than me, way more than most and way more than I ever want to know. To his credit, he has taken that loss and used it in a positive way to influence the lives of others when they are at what often might be the lowest point in their lives.
    He gets it - way more than I do. Five minutes with him was like five minutes with a movie version of a healing evangelist who lays his hand on the crippled and makes them walk again. 
    He has taken unthinkable tragedy and turned it into an avenue to help others. He is all about kindness and stressed that those who cannot be kind to their fellow man pretty much “suck” at life. His words, not mine, but he is right.
    Fort Myers also happens to be the final resting site of a friend who died unexpectedly in January at age 48. This was a friend who held a very special place in my heart and my wife's and after my encounter with Al Kinkle, I felt like I had to go to Fort Myers Memorial Gardens to see her. Soon I was talking and crying into the facade of a concrete vault - hardly how I expected my next meeting with her to be. That moment was a reminder that perhaps I have sucked at life a little more than I care to admit and that I need to keep working to change that.
    A little-known fact about me is that for the past six years, I have coached a CYO track team at the Catholic school where my daughter when to middle school. Each year I have somewhere from 75-110 kids on the team. It is a 100 percent volunteer position that I started when my daughter was in seventh grade. She heads off to college in less than a month, but I am still coaching that team and do not make a dime for it.
    The payoff is the chance to work with kids, introduce them to organized sports in what I think is the right way and make a positive impact on their lives through teaching the value of hard work, discipline, teamwork, respect for themselves and others, how to win and lose gracefully and have fun doing it.
    After my roles as husband and parent, coaching is easily the most fulfilling thing I do. Sharing the few talents I do have and using them to help others is the best way I know to help myself - and in the meantime try not suck at life so much. That part, however, remains a work in progress.
  • Deere's high-tech solutions for superintendents include an autonomous fairway mower (not available yet) and a GPS-guided spray unit. The past, the present and the future of John Deere were on display this week in and around the company's western Illinois base of operations.
    In America's heartland, seemingly every tractor and every harvester on every farm is green and yellow and covered in dust, serving as a reminder to the kind of hard-working spirit, grit and determination that is the very backbone of this country.
    This week's PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic at the TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, which was built two decades ago on land owned by an ancestor of John Deere himself, is a reminder of the company's devotion to the golf industry and a reminder to folks around here who earn a living feeding the rest of the country and the world that there is more to Deere than implements used in agriculture and construction.
    Some of the company's recent innovations, and others that are not yet available in the golf market but soon will be, took center stage during a demo day in the run-up to this year's tournament - serving as a testament to where Deere came from, where the company is now and the path it is forging into the future.
    That list included a Gator-mounted/GPS-guided sprayer, upgrades to Deere's triplex mower lineup, acquisition of a data-management platform and a demo of the much-awaited autonomous fairway mower.
    Deere has partnered with Precision Makers, a Netherlands based company that specializes in autonomous technology for various equipment forms, to provide riderless mowing technology for the golf and sports turf markets.
    Paired to a Deere 7500A, the brains of the riderless mower system is Deere's Starfire GPS receiver, which is the same system found on the GPS-guided sprayers.
    Mapping the fairways is as quick as driving each fairway - twice for an inner and outer border. There is no limit as to how many fairways can be mapped, and updating routes after a renovation are as simple as driving each new fairway configuration.
    "We're listening to what our customers are telling us they need," said Brooks Hastings, product manager for Deere.
    From coast to coast, superintendents everywhere are plagued by labor shortages. At daily fee operations, a shortage of help could mean not filling fairway divots or raking bunkers. At private clubs, it could mean cutting out some detail work and even switching from walk mowing greens to triplex mowers.
    Autonomous mowers could provide a solution to those struggling to meet their labor needs.
    A crowd of onlookers comprised largely of superintendents and distributors agreed, judging by the audible gasps when the autonomous mower approached and made a couple of passes in front of the group.
    "I'm very excited. I can't wait for this," said Dan Meersman of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, one of the many invited to the event. "Even in urban areas, it's so competitive. Everyone struggles to get enough help."
    "This allows superintendents to reallocate labor to things they couldn't get accomplished before." Hastings said.
    The system has been field tested at several sites. Demo opportunities will be announced next year. The company has not announced when the system will be available.
    The riderless mower was just one example of how Deere is working to help superintendents work smarter while also overcoming some of the challenges they face in day-to-day management of the golf course, like labor shortages and the pressure to improve playability and provide consistent conditions.
    GPS-guided spraying has been used in agriculture for several years, but is new to golf, which requires more precision due to unique challenges, such as multiple fairways with unique contours and irregularly occurring obstacles like bunkers and cart paths that vary in location and shape from one hole to the next.
    Either the Pro Gator 2020A (34 hp gas engine) or Pro Gator 2030A (21 hp diesel) can be outfitted with the HD200 or HD300 spray systems. 
    Deere also used the demo day to introduce the latest additions to its triplex mower lineup. The all new 2700 and 2750 and 2700E and 2750E put more control in the hands of the superintendent and helps provide consistent quality of cut regardless of operator.
    The programmable and password-protected TechControl system, superintendents can control frequency of clip, turn speed, clean up pass speed, and how fast the cutting units raise and lower.
    The superintendent also can select Eco Mode, which electronically controls the engine speed to conserve fuel. With Eco Mode, the engine RPM automatically adjusts based on the load, saving as much as 30 percent on fuel and reducing operating sound levels for early morning mowing. 
    "Because of the consistency you can achieve," said Deere product manager Brad Aldridge, "you can take a rookie on your crew and make them look like a 20-year veteran."
    During the demo on July 9, Deere also announced that it had acquired OnLink's cloud-based data-management platform. 
    OnLink is a cloud-based golf course management platform that helps superintendent collect data and manage equipment, labor, water, chemicals, nutrients and playing conditions. The acquisition includes the platform and all existing OnLink service contracts.  During the transition, current OnLink customers will experience uninterrupted service, Deere officials said. 
    The OnLink system cloud-based, automated-reporting software provides critical course conditions, economic reports and equipment insights, helping superintendents make more informed management decisions. The system also offers precise and accurate weather forecasting service through a partnership with IBM's The Weather Company.
    Likewise, the system allows superintendents and equipment managers to integrate their equipment fleet and manage and gather data, including maintenance scheduling and parts management. It also generates reports and can be used with all equipment manufacturers and vendor suppliers.
    Critical to the success of so many new projects is Deere's Integrated Solutions sector that allows various segments of the company to utilize technology between business units.
    "That allows us to leverage the research and development in other areas of the company," said Manny Gan, Deere's director of global sales and marketing. "We can take those elements and apply them to golf where they make sense."
  • Superintendent Alex Stuedemann is five years into his second stint at TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois. The TPC at Deere Run facing golfers this week during the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic is a much different course than it was when Michael Clark outlasted Kirk Triplett in the first event held at the course in 2000.
    Superintendent Alex Stuedemann was not at Deere Run for that first event in 2000, but he was an assistant there from 2002-2007 before moving on to help grow-in the TPC of San Antonio. Stuedemann, who has been head superintendent at Deere Run since 2014, admits the course has changed a lot since those early days.
    "When I was here as an assistant, I don't think we understood the agronomics of the property," Stuedemann said. "We had a reverence for the land, and we still do, but simple things like light, air, water, nutrition, we were ignoring them to a degree. We saw this beautiful piece of land, and we thought any change to the golf course would change the beauty and history of this property."
    The Deere started in 1971 as the Quad Cities Open at Crow Valley Country Club and was first played across the Mississippi River at Crow Valley Country Club in Davenport, Iowa. In almost a half-century, it has undergone several name changes. It has operated as the John Deere Classic since 1999 and moved to its current home in Silvis the following year.
    TPC at Deere Run is built on the site of a horse farm donated by the Hewitt family, who are descended from John Deere, the company's founder and namesake. 
    "We still have a reverence for this property and what it means to John Deere and the Hewitt family," Stuedemann said.
    A perpetual tree-management program started by former superintendent Paul Grogan, who was Stuedemann's mentor at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota, has been ongoing since 2013.
    "It started with Paul opening up air movement, pruning and removing trees," Stuedemann said. "That gave us a good foundation and we've gotten more aggressive with it since then. Definitely if you go down the corridor of the golf course, conditions have improved since those early days. But we realized that if you took a step 30 feet off that corridor in either direction, the golf course could be improved even more."
    That tree-management plan also includes removing invasive species and promoting the native plants to so the property remains consistent with that which the Hewitt family donated to the PGA Tour two decades ago, Stuedemann said.
    "We have a lot of good hardwood trees here - basswood, elm, ash, Linden, oak - and they're all being swallowed by sumac and locust saplings and all of these other invasive species that have been destroying this geography," he said. "We've gone through and taken all these species out to highlight the native trees while also making the golf course more playable. That has benefited our guests and their golf experience, and the added benefit is better turf conditions."
    The Quad Cities area of western Illinois and eastern Iowa is surrounded by some of the world's most fertile farmland. The golf course, however, is built atop an old coal mine and the native soils are dominated by thick, silty clay that Stuedemann compared to Play-Doh.
    "We were a little surprised by the soils here," Stuedemann said. "It's challenging growing grass into it. You have to be very responsive when it gets hot and humid.
    "It's almost like playing with artists clay. It's moldable, but it doesn't percolate anything. When I came back, we had an old Verti-Drain in the barn that hadn't moved since I was an assistant. We fired that up, and pounded with it and almost drove it to its grave. We've since bought a new one and it has become part of our annual practices."
    TPC at Deere Run was built at a time when several new turf varieties were coming onto the market, and the aggressive growth properties of some of them - and how to manage them - were not fully understood, Stuedemann said. 
    "We were pulling quarter-inch to three-eighths-inch cores. It was a new course. We were trying to build organic matter, and that was when a lot of new bentgrasses were coming out and nobody quite understood their aggressive nature," Stuedemann said. "It was 'three-eighths, drag it in, blow off the fluff and here we go,' and it was the same every year. Looking back, we were just creating a layer beneath the surface that wasn't allowing us to grow very deep roots. The organic matter was building up with those new, aggressive bents that didn't require a lot of nutrative inputs. Recognizing that, we got aggressive and are getting some of that organic matter out. We went in that first fall with some five-eighths-inch hollow tines and pulled it all out and shovelled it all out."
    The next year, he added deep tine aerification to the program. As aggressive as the management program was, the process of feeding the turf became equally conservative.
    "We went down 7 inches to give the roots a path. We've had to get more aggressive with our cultural practices because the accumulation of organic matter was impacting the health of the turf," he said. "We're pulling larger cores and using lots and lots of sand. My nickname is "The Sandman. 
    "We started weekly topdressing to keep up with the growth, and we started giving the turf what it needs when it needs it so as not to repeat the problems we had. We were very aggressive and we still are, but we were backing it up with results. We had a firmer surface, we had better performance after storms. Yes, there was a cost to it in the way of some impediment to golf, but we were giving golfers better season-long performance out of the golf course."

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